“Unprecedented Times”
A Pop-Up Exhibition and Live Auction in Collaboration with The BLK Collectors
Solar Arts Building Gallery | March 30 – April 13, 2026
A pop-up exhibition of international works on paper—created in Africa, Italy, and Mexico—making their U.S. debut in Minneapolis.
One night. One auction.
One direct line between art and community.
About the Exhibition
“Unprecedented Times” is a pop-up exhibition of never-before-seen works on paper by Minneapolis artist Gregory J. Rose. These pieces were created while living and working in Africa, Italy, and Mexico. These are works made in the geographic homelands of many Twin Cities immigrant families, friends, and neighbors.
This exhibition is also a question. Gregory is asking how artists support one another, their families, and their communities at large here in the Twin Cities. The answer, in part, is showing up. Face to face. In the same room.
In collaboration with The BLK Collectors — Minneapolis-based founders Esther Callahan and Keisha Williams — a live auction will take place during the opening reception on April 2nd. A 2016 mixed media work on paper created during Gregory's international residency in Venice, Italy will be auctioned live. Bidding opens at $800. Sixty percent of the final sale goes directly to The BLK Collectors to fund the creation and distribution of art kits for children and artists' families across the Twin Cities.
This is art as participation. Art as resistance. Art as reclamation.
Exhibition closes April 13, 2026.
What Collectors Ask
(And What You Should Know Before You Come)
Why does buying directly from an artist matter?Buying directly from a living artist is one of the most straightforward ways to keep money moving through a local creative economy. You're adding a piece to your collection, yes, but you're also entering a relationship with someone who is actively investing in this city's cultural infrastructure. At “Unprecedented Times”, that relationship starts in person, at Solar Arts Building, with the artist in the room.
Why is Gregory J. Rose's work significant?Black abstraction rooted in urban experience has a long history in this country. In the Midwest, in Minneapolis specifically, I've been doing this work for over two decades—documenting this city's streets, its power structures, its communities, and its contradictions through mixed media. That continuity has value. And it's still in motion.
Why will this work hold its value over time?These works were made in specific places, at a specific time, by someone paying close attention to what was happening around him—in Venice, in West Africa, in Mexico, and in Minneapolis. That geographic and historical specificity is what gives them staying power. Thirty years from now, they will still be accurate documents of this era. “Unprecedented Times” is a two-week window to acquire that record before it moves into private collections.
What happens at the Opening Reception on April 2nd?The Opening Reception is April 2nd from 5 to 9pm at Solar Arts Building in Northeast Minneapolis. This is the primary event of the exhibition. It’s the night the room fills, the work is on the walls, and a live auction takes place for a 2016 mixed media work on paper created during Gregory's international residency in Venice, Italy. Bidding opens at $800. Sixty percent of the final sale goes directly to The BLK Collectors to fund art kits for children and artists' families across the Twin Cities. This is the night to be in the room.
About The Artist
Gregory J. Rose is a Minneapolis-based mixed media artist whose work documents the textures of urban life—the weight of systems, the patterns of community, and the ongoing negotiation between fragmentation and continuity.
Working across paper, panel, and canvas, Gregory builds layered compositions that draw from street culture, abstraction, personal history, and collective memory. His work has been exhibited internationally, including a residency with GAP IV (Global Arts Project) in Venice, Italy, and the creation of works in Africa and Mexico now making their U.S. debut in Unprecedented Times.
He works not just as an artist but as an economic participant, someone who understands that culture circulates value, and that collecting living artists strengthens the communities they come from.
Gregory J. Rose
"I've been thinking about what it means to make work somewhere else—in someone else's city, someone else's landscape—and bring it back home. These pieces carry those places. They also carry this one."
On creating internationally and returning to Minneapolis
Gregory J. Rose
"Creating in Africa, Italy, Mexico—those weren't vacations. That was work. That was documentation. That was me trying to understand what we share across all of these geographies, and what we owe each other when we get back."
On the responsibility of international work
Featured Original Artworks
This is a sneak peak selection of original works being exhibited and are available for purchase before and during the exhibition. View the entire collection by visiting it live at the Solar Arts Building.
Acquire directly from the artist by clicking on the artwork below.
Each piece includes a Certificate of Authenticity and signed confirmation of sale.
"Anonymity Of The Rain", Mixed Media on Panel, 24”x 24”, 2018
"Transformers And High Top Fades", Mixed Media on Panel, 24”x 24”, 2018
"Within The Trees", Mixed Media on Panel, 24”x 24”, 2018
"Burned Bridges", Mixed Media on Panel, 24”x 24”, 2018
"Barefoot Metropolis", Mixed Media on Panel, 24”x 24”, 2018
"You Never Stand Alone", Mixed Media on Panel, 32”x 80”, 2008
The Auction Piece
Live Auction | April 2nd | Opening Reception
Bidding opens at $800
60% of the final sale goes directly to The BLK Collectors to fund art kits for children and artists' families across the Twin Cities.
In the summer of 2016, Gregory J. Rose traveled to Venice, Italy as part of GAP IV — the Global Arts Project international residency founded by Carl Heyward. Working alongside artists from across the world, Gregory produced a body of mixed media works on paper that would become some of the most formative pieces of his career.
This is one of those works. It has never been exhibited in the United States—until now.
The piece reflects what Venice sharpened in Gregory's practice: the relationship between fragmentation and structure, between large gesture and intimate mark, between the weight of where you come from and the openness of where you land. It is a document of a specific place and time, made by an East Coaster transplanted into Minneapolis artist, carrying this city with him across the world.
On April 2nd, this work goes to auction. The room decides its value. And a significant portion of that value goes directly back into the hands of the next generation through The BLK Collectors' art kit program.
This is not a symbolic gesture. It is a demonstration of how art circulates wealth when a community chooses to participate.
Title: Untitled (GAP IV Venice, Italy)
Mixed Media on Paper Dimensions: 35x45 inches (framed) 2016
Provenance: Created during GAP IV — Global Arts Project international residency, Venice, Italy
The Work
and where it comes fromGregory J. Rose has been building this body of work for decades — across cities, across continents, and across mediums. His mixed media practice has taken him from Minneapolis to New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Miami, Appalachia, Panama, Costa Rica, Senegal, Mexico, and Venice, Italy.
In 2016, he was selected for GAP IV — the Global Arts Project international residency in Venice — where he worked alongside artists from across the world, producing a body of mixed media works on paper that are making their United States debut in Unprecedented Times.
Of his time in Venice, Gregory has said the residency was a moment to work in anonymity, to collaborate as peers, and to let the geography change the work. His palette shifted. His understanding of fragmentation deepened. The work that came out of that period carries both places—Venice and Minneapolis—in the same surface.
These are not theoretical works. They are documents. And “Unprecedented Times” is the first time they are available to collectors in this country.
Why Collect Original Work
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Collecting local work keeps capital circulating here. When you buy directly from a living artist, you are not just acquiring something — you are participating in how that artist's career develops, how their prices grow, and how this city builds cultural equity over time.
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The question I hear most is whether it is too early to collect my work. My answer is that early is the position of strength. The collectors who come in before institutional validation are the ones who build the most meaningful collections — and the most meaningful relationships with the work.
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This work documents the times we are living through. That is what gives it staying power. You are not buying decoration. You are acquiring a record.
Partnerships
The BLK Collectors
Esther Callahan and Keisha Williams are the Minneapolis-based founders dedicated to celebrating and preserving Black art and its cultural memory. Sixty percent of auction proceeds support their art kit program for children and artists' families.
Solar Arts Building
A Northeast Minneapolis creative hub hosted by Mike Schardin by providing space for artists, community, and culture to meet.
Madich Design Studio
Minneapolis-based web design and marketing studio founded by Ashley Madich. Madich Design Studio builds strategic digital ecosystems for creative businesses, turning creativity into consistent revenue through UX-informed design, SEO, and marketing strategy.
Unprecedented Times closes April 13th. But the work doesn't stop there.
Stay In The Collection
If you want early access to future exhibitions, private acquisition opportunities, and updates on new works before they go public , get on the list.
Gregory works with a small group of collectors directly. This is how that relationship starts.
No pressure. No noise. Just direct access to the work and the artist behind it.
New to Collecting?
Gregory writes about building wealth through art, what it means to collect living artists, and how local ecosystems grow when communities invest in their own culture.
Learn how to properly display and protect your original artwork so it maintains its structural integrity, visual impact, and long-term value.